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Ask HN: Why do all cryptocurrencies have similar mining-based strategies?

4 points by slake ↗ HN
Aren't there other strategies that would introduce new currency? Let's say some philanthropy gives you new currency. Or some contribution to wiki leaks does. Or in the crypto world discovering new solutions to useful difficult problems would reward you.

4 comments

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zw123456
What if you set up a bank and that bank would control the currency and loan it to people who would use it to produce goods and services and then pay the bank back with interest? Oh, wait... :)
maaku
The only thing that gives bitcoin value is the proof of work. It is what solves the distributed, trust-free consensus problem. It is a solution that should not exist to a problem that just a few years ago smart people assumed to be unsolvable. Asking "why is mining useless?" betrays a certain ignorance in the utility of proof of work. I suggest doing some more research into it.

In particular a proof-of-work function needs to be self-validating, it needs to be universally available, it needs to be progress-free, it needs to represent economic cost, and surprisingly it needs to be intrinsically worthless. If these conditions are violated, it fails to be useful as a consensus mechanism.

Hash-based proof-of-work is extremely useful. It gives economic assurance about the cost of disrupting consensus.

apw
Could you please elaborate on "and surprisingly it needs to be intrinsically worthless"?
pablovidal85
The key here is in my opinion "proof of work", cryptohashes can be verified easily by anybody reading the blockchain as proofs of work. Find any task that has this feature and you'll be on your way of creating a new mining strategy.